A Story, A Certificate, A Location - Wishful Wednesday

I wish I knew the story behind these photos.  In the photo on the far right my grandmother, Beulah, stands near her fiance/husband, Gust.  Her sister, Leota, sits behind.  In the photo on the left you see Beulah standing in front wearing a man's suit.  Leota and Gust are behind her.  I know there has to be some story behind this.  What would have prompted Beulah to change into men's clothes?  Where did she change?  Who was the photographer?  If Beulah exchanged clothes with the photographer, what was he wearing?  It looks like Beulah is wearing her dress under the suit.  I suspect it's all a bunch of young love silliness but I sure wish I knew the story!

I wish Grampa Fred Gerner's Pennsylvania death certificate would come.  The certificate number in the index was undecipherable and the wrong certificate arrived in response to my first request.  With my second request I included a print-out from the index with his name and the number plus some suggestions as to what the number might be.  I also asked if their original index looked better than the scanned online version and if so, that they please look at it.  It's been more than four months since I sent my request, the amount of time they say it takes to send death certificates.  I continue to be patient... and wish.

I wish I could find some document naming the birth place of my great-grandfather, Henry Carl Meinzen.  It seems like I've searched every possible source that might give me that information and I come up empty-handed (or empty-sourced, as the case may be).  One source I hoped would respond is the IOOF since I knew my grandfather was a member in Steubenville, Ohio, but I'm still waiting (after several years).

I noticed that the July/August issue of Family Tree Magazine has an article about researching Lutheran ancestors.  I know my grandfather was Lutheran and I was able to find Steubenville church records (his church merged with the United Church of Christ of Steubenville) but I don't think I can search German records until I have a location. 

Sometimes I think we family historians could be detectives.  But if so, I know I wouldn't get paid for solving the case of my grandfather's birth location -- at least not yet.

Do you have unfulfilled wishes for your family history/genealogy?
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